


Slowly

by tennou



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Character Study, Fluff, M/M, Relationship Study, Romance, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 04:23:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1455247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tennou/pseuds/tennou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam gets it; Steve just got it a little faster than he did. </p><p>Or, how Sam Wilson fell in love without even realizing it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slowly

**Author's Note:**

> This is the cutest ship in world okay and I really wanted to write cute stuff for it. Organized in a set of different scenes throughout their stay together. Hope you like it! (Also spoilers warning for Captain America 2)

Moving in together just seemed like the practical thing to do. They’d obviously be spending a lot of time together anyway as they searched for the Winter Soldier—for Bucky—so might as well make it as easy on themselves as possible.

Plus, Steve’s apartment had been sort of destroyed.

“We might end up having to move around a lot once we get an idea of his location,” Steve warned him again as he carried a suitcase into Sam’s home.

Sam gave him an easy half-smile, the kind he knew people found reassuring.

“I kinda figured that,” he replied. “We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

Steve set his bag down and placed his hands on his hips in a pseudo-superhero pose, probably subconsciously, and Sam marveled again at how well he fit the part of Super Soldier.

Steve’s eyes wandered around the interior of his place curiously for a moment, fully taking it in for the first time since he’d last been there. His gaze returned to Sam’s face and he smiled at him.

“Thanks,” he said finally. “For letting me stay here. It’s…nice to have someone I can rely on.”

“No worries, man. You know I’d do anything for Captain America,” he said with a grin, though it wasn’t strictly true.

He’d do anything for Steve Rogers, too.

\----

The first few days were pretty awkward but Sam had been expecting that. He knew how hard it might be for Steve to adjust not just to the new housing situation, but with everything that’d happened thus far. It would be hard for anyone.

But they managed to relax into a comfortable rhythm.

“You hungry?” Sam called from his place in front of the stove. He heard Steve’s footsteps approaching him from behind.

“Do you even have to ask?” he heard him say with a smile in his voice. Sam rolled his eyes but he felt a grin on his lips too.

“You’re right,” he said teasingly. “I forgot you were a human garbage disposal.”

Steve moved closer until Sam could feel the heat radiating off his body against his back.

Something he’d learned about the super soldier during their stay together was that Steve really didn’t mind physical contact with others. At all. They were in almost constant contact with one another in one way or another, and it wasn’t as though Sam particularly _minded_ this; it just felt strange to him sometimes to be that close to someone again because…it’d been a while.

He tried to focus on the meat and beans simmering in the pan.

“What’re you making?” Steve’s words were almost whispered into his ear and Sam felt a shiver threaten to crawl up his spine, which he promptly suppressed.

“Chili,” he answered. “It’s not gourmet or anything but it’s easy and it’s good.”

Sam felt Steve’s body align against his as he leaned over his shoulder to smell. His chin brushed his shoulder. It almost seemed to Sam like Steve lingered there, pressed against his body and dangerously close to kissing his neck, but he was probably just imagining it. In any case, Steve stepped away after a few moments before it got _too_ strange, oblivious to Sam’s inner machinations.

“Smells good.”

\----

Sam would’ve considered them friends.

Friends were familiar with each other. They had jokes and private smiles and they touched each other sometimes, right?

“Natasha’s meeting us over in that coffee place on 9th Street,” Steve said in lieu of greeting as Sam walked into the kitchen fresh out of the shower.

Sam draped his damp towel over his bare shoulders as he walked to the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. Water droplets from his earlier shower dripped down his back, tickling his skin as he turned to look at Steve and give him a nod.

Steve’s eyes flicked back up to his face quickly, almost guiltily. As though he’d been looking at something he shouldn’t have been.

Sam raised an eyebrow. “Something the matter, Cap?” he asked, shutting the fridge door closed and bringing over the whole juice carton with him to the table. He untwisted the cap and took a swig right from the container, watching Steve all the while.

Steve watched him back.

“Nothing much.”

Then he reached forward and plucked the container from his hand. Sam could only stare as Steve brought the carton up and wrapped his lips around the opening where his own mouth had just been.

Sam forced a smile even though he could hear his own rapid pulse roaring in his ears—which was ridiculous. He shared drinks and food with people all the time. It was normal. Beyond normal. So it really shouldn’t have set him so on edge that Steve had done the same.

“I was drinking that.”

“Were you?” A mischievous-yet-innocent smile that only Steve Rogers could manage played at his lips. “I’m sorry.” He held out the carton, daring Sam to take it. “You can have it back, if you still want it.”

Sam looked down at the container of orange juice.

Normally he would’ve taken it back with a grin and a playful threat for revenge. Normally he would’ve snatched it from his fingers and chugged the whole thing right there, a silent declaration of his own little victory.

But this was Steve and Sam didn’t act normally around Steve; he didn’t feel normally around Steve. And he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why.

He reached out and took the carton; his fingers brushed Steve’s for a moment, exchanging heat between the touch of their fingers; he pulled it free from his grasp, and slowly brought it to his lips.

\----

“What was the name of that movie you wanted to see again?”

“Return of the Zombie Overlords,” Sam answered without looking up from his book. “Why?”

“No reason, really,” Steve said. There was a pause before he continued, “It’s just that Natasha gave me these tickets…”

Sam’s ears perked up and he turned his head just enough to glance at Steve. “Yes, and?”

Steve held up two tickets in his hand with a grin that almost looked sheepish. “You busy tonight?”

“No way,” Sam breathed as stood from his seat and crossed the room to where Steve was standing. “You scored tickets for opening night?” He plucked one of them from his grip, eyeing it carefully before tearing his gaze away to stare at the captain with suspicion in his eyes.

“How?”

Steve slid his hands into his pockets with a sigh. “Actually, she gave them to me so that I’d have a place to go if I wanted to take a girl out on a date.”

“Am I that girl, Captain?”

Steve grinned. “I thought it’d be more fun to go with you.”

Sam looked down at the ticket again, a grin spreading on his own face. “Well, I’m not complaining.”

\----

Steve was actually kind of beautiful, Sam had noticed.

It wasn’t the typical American golden boy look he had going for him or the super soldier physique.

It was the way his eyes constantly relayed his feelings whenever he felt them, the way they reflected genuine care. It was the way he handled things with a certain gentleness despite his super human strength, like everything deserved to be treated that way. It was the way he ducked his head a bit when he smiled, reminiscent of the shier, frailer boy he used to be and in some ways, still was.

Sam grimaced at his own thoughts. Since when was he so sappy?

“Hey,” Steve greeted, pulling him from his thoughts as he flopped down onto the couch next to him. He smiled at him and Sam was reminded of the fact that although Steve was beautiful in a non-physical way, he was also pretty damn good-looking in the traditional sense of the word too. 

“Hey.”

Steve looked straight ahead at the TV where Sam had been watching some documentary about reptiles indigenous to South America and leaned back, casually draping an arm over the back of the couch. Sam glanced at him with a half-smirk.

“Are you trying the whole yawn-and-put-your-arm-around-your-date move on me?” he asked. “Because you’re going to have to try harder than that.”

Steve grinned at him. “Was I that obvious?”

Sam shrugged a shoulder and returned his gaze to the screen. “I'm just saying. You may have gotten the super strength but I’ve still got all the game.”

“Oh, is that how it is?”

Sam couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up his throat. “Yeah,” he said, looking over at Steve. “That’s how it is.”

Steve was still looking at him, still smiling at him. His arm was still resting just behind his shoulders, so close to touching that he could almost feel the contact between them already.

Sam caught his thoughts. It wasn’t as though he _wanted_ contact between them. Did he?

Sam wet his lips. He found himself leaning forward slightly. The look in Steve’s eyes had darkened and his cheeks were pink.

“I could teach you a few things, if you want,” Sam told him. His voice came out a lot softer than he’d intended but Steve still heard him.

“Like what?” he asked, his voice just as soft with a hint of coarseness that Sam discovered he liked.

Sam wanted to draw the quiet words out with his tongue, swallow them from his lips with a kiss. 

And that surprised him.

Sam looked down and saw his lips were inches from Steve’s, close enough that he could feel his gentle exhales against his skin.

If he wanted, he could take Steve’s full, pink bottom lip between his teeth right then, suck and nip at it until it was swollen red and Steve was breathing heavy. A shuddering breath passed through Sam at the thought. 

And then he felt Steve’s lips on his, pulling him from his thoughts as his tongue moved against his own, his hand resting warm against the side of his neck—and suddenly everything made sense.

The intimate touches, the movie date, the flirty teasing, the lingering gazes, it all came together to form the true, bigger picture.

Sam pulled back and Steve blinked at him, his eyes wide and lips reddened.

“Something wrong?” Steve asked.

Steve had known all along, realized his feelings sooner than Sam had.

 _Just a little faster than me_ , he thought with a half-smile. _Like always_.

Sam enveloped his fingers in his Steve’s golden hair and pulled him forward again, not hesitating to suck his tongue into his mouth.

“Nope,” he murmured in response. Steve let out a low groan as Sam leaned into him, pressing a hand between his legs. He smiled against his mouth. “Absolutely nothing.”

**Author's Note:**

> Comments or kudos if you liked it would be great [dokushoujo](http://dokushoujo.tumblr.com/)


End file.
